FOR more than a decade SMASH volunteers have been plodding along behind the scenes, mentoring nearly 2,000 youngsters in need of direction, a little kindness or a friendly ear in Swindon.

While demand for one-to-one mentoring has risen exponentially in the town, funds have become increasingly scarce and the charity is now calling on the community to back its young people and help to raise £10,000 over the next 12 months by making good on their New Year’s resolutions and joining the SMASH Your Goals campaign.

“It’s the time of year when people commit to do things for the rest of the year, whether it be losing weight, stopping smoking, reading a book every month or running,” says trustee Steve Sedgwick.

“So we hope they can do it on behalf of SMASH and get sponsored by their friends and colleagues. If 100 people raise £100, we’re there.”

SMASH (Swindon Mentoring and Self Help Youth Project) was founded in 1999 by Swindon Council to work with young people who, through no fault of their own, were not receiving the attention or encouragement they needed and deserved.

When the local authority pulled out a decade ago, volunteers rallied round and took over the service, which costs £200,000 a year to run. While mentors and trustees are volunteers, most of the funding goes towards the salary of the seven support workers hired to train and assist the team and youngsters.

Despite some financial setbacks, SMASH has kept afloat over the years, hugely boosted by the Big Lottery Fund as well as generous grants and donations from the community. But the charity was dealt a blow recently when one of its biggest sources of funding, the J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust announced its decision to wind down operations and cut back on grants.

This, coupled with the impending end of its three-year lottery funding at the close of 2016, could put the mentoring scheme and the futures of hundreds of teenagers in the town in jeopardy.

While the charity is in the process of reapplying for a new lottery grant, trustees are not taking any chances. At the end of the last year they brainstormed potential fundraising ideas and came up with the SMASH Your Goals appeal.

“We need to raise a third of the running cost through the local community,” says chairman of trustees Mike Johnson, who has mentored three young people since joining the scheme.

“Without this there is a danger we would not be able to continue.

“We’re hopeful – we’ve been going self-funded over 10 years – but we desperately need the support of the local community. If we can help young people get their self-confidence back, or get into the workforce then it helps the community. Everything we do goes back into the community.”

This year the charity will need to raise between £30,000 and £40,000 on top of its grants and lottery funding.

Next year the sum is expected to rise to around £60,000.

SMASH is based on a simple concept. Each teenager, aged between 13 and 17, is referred to the charity by their school or social services and matched with a mentor for a year.

From the outset they lay out the goals – personal, academic or social – they wish to achieve.

While some are vulnerable or have lost their way, others come from trouble-free families but simply need support to come out of their shell or gain independence.

“You’ve got some who might be about to be expelled from school, some who just need help building their confidence, some who are carers at home and need a break, some who come from a one-parent family or low-income family,” adds Mike.

“These are not people with desperate problems but young people going through some issues.

“They need that empathy, someone from the outside to give them that help perspective.”

Marie was 14 years old when she was referred to the charity. She had had dealings with the youth offending team and was not attending school when she was matched with a mentor. Lonely and isolated, her sense of self-worth was non-existent.

But by the end of her mentorship she was enrolled in a pre-16 course at college, had made friends and her difficult relationship with her mother was on a much better footing.

“SMASH helped me to become more of my own person,” she says. “I can now do more stuff on my own, like going to college. I am much more confident.

“This is unfortunately the end of my year with my mentor, I am really sad it has to finish, although we hope to keep in touch.”

While mentors support young people through the trials of adolescence, they are not expected to act as professional counsellors, only friendly adults able to provide a fresh outlook.

“When I started off as a mentor I was matched with a young guy who was 15 and didn’t have a father figure in his life, he was being bullied at school,” explains Mike, a father-of-four and former global chief executive of Castrol in Swindon.

“I thought, ‘What the heck can I do to help him?’ They just said, ‘Meet him once a week and turn up when you say you will, that’s what he needs.’ “You don’t have to be an expert, just an adult who’s prepared to listen and talk to them. If there are any broader issues you can contact one of the care workers.”

The charity counts between 60 and 70 mentors, each buddied up with one mentee.

SMASH needs another 30 mentors to sign up and be matched up with the 30 young people currently on its waiting list.

In 2014, SMASH launched a parallel scheme, Memory Makers for children between eight and 12 years old.

Not unlike the mentoring initiative, the Memory Makers meet a child once a fortnight, and help them build fun and happy childhood memories by taking them out for a meal, to the movies or for a fun activity.

Crucially they offer children, some with complicated family dynamics, their undivided attention and support in their formative years.

There are currently 20 Memory Makers. Five children are on the waiting list to join the scheme.

“You get as much as out of it as you put in,” adds Mike, 61, with a warm grin.

“You deal with young people who have lots of enthusiasm and passion and are looking for a good future. I helped one of my mentees write a CV, my wife helped hers get work experience at the local gym.

“It’s these things we take for granted, but that a lot of kids don’t have access to.”

More than ever before a campaign like SMASH Your Goals could ensure the future of the charity. Volunteers hope to get young users involved and have them lead by example as they smash their own goals.

“Children are smashing their goals with a mentor – it ties in with the campaign,” sums up Mike.

“What we do is provide hope. We give young people positive reinforcement and support. Everyone deserves that.”

To join SMASH Your Goals, make a donation or become a mentor go to smashyouthproject.co.uk, call 01793 729748 or email admin@smashyouth project.co.uk.